Massachusetts gays divorcing

Already, the honeymoon is over, and the realities of married life are settling in on gay couples who had married in Massachusetts:

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Less than seven months after same-sex couples began tying the knot in Massachusetts, the state is seeing its first gay divorces.

Newlyweds seeking to renounce the vows they so recently took have been trickling into probate courts across the state, filling out obsolete forms that still read "husband" and "wife."

And for those who think that other lives are not affected by this,:

The first gay divorce case in Suffolk County, which includes Boston, was filed Wednesday by a male couple who exchanged vows on May 22, five days after same-sex marriage was legalized.

One partner was a 33-year-old religious educator from Boston, the other a 39-year-old professor based in Washington. Since then, the couple said in their divorce filing, "our interests have grown in different directions." Each man signed a settlement attesting that the marriage had "irretrievably broken down."

The most difficult part of the settlement appeared to be custody of their three cats, who will live exclusively with the professor.

But "in recognition of the emotional hardship of such relinquishment," the settlement reads, the professor agreed to provide his ex "with periodic updates, photographs, and any health-related information pertaining" to the cats.

After the novelty of being among the first gays to be married in the US has passed, the questions remain: does this imply that the gay lifestyle does not adapt well to the rigors of marriage?

Originally posted by jsobecky
After the novelty of being among the first gays to be married in the US has passed, the questions remain: does this imply that the gay lifestyle does not adapt well to the rigors of marriage?

I believe so. No matter how hard you try the emotions and interactions between two men or two women will never be the same as a man and a women. It is doomed to failure no matter how 'normal' it is potrayed by the media. Afterall if this kind of thing was 'normal' the human race would be extinct by now.

Originally posted by SiRiNO
Afterall if this kind of thing was 'normal' the human race would be extinct by now.

Come on... for this to be true you're assuming that everyone would somehow 'convert' to being gay.
The fact is, heterosexuals will continue to be a massive majority and men and women will keep having babies and they will grow into adults and have to pay taxes.

Originally posted by jsobecky
After the novelty of being among the first gays to be married in the US has passed, the questions remain: does this imply that the gay lifestyle does not adapt well to the rigors of marriage?

Only if gays are divorcing higher than the average rate or near the levels of the highest divorcing population, which happen to be evangelical Christians in red states.

So using your logic then, does being a Christian or a Republican not adapt well to the rigors of marriage?

Facts that red state conservatives and bible thumpers probably don't want to hear...

The state with the lowest divorce rate in the nation is Massachusetts. At latest count it had a divorce rate of 2.4 per 1,000 population, while the rate for Texas was 4.1.

But don't take the US government's word for it. Take a look at the findings from the George Barna Research Group. George Barna, a born-again Christian whose company is in Ventura, Calif., found that Massachusetts does indeed have the lowest divorce rate among all 50 states. More disturbing was the finding that born-again Christians have among the highest divorce rates.

The Associated Press, using data supplied by the US Census Bureau, found that the highest divorce rates are to be found in the Bible Belt. The AP report stated that "the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average of 4.2 per thousand people." The 10 Southern states with some of the highest divorce rates were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. By comparison nine states in the Northeast were among those with the lowest divorce rates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Anyway, all sweet irony aside that blue state liberals statistically have more morals via respect for marriage than loud-mouthed, hypocritical, moral authoritarian, red state bigots I'm sure gays would still like the right to divorce just the same as breeders, even if they don't avail themselves of that right to the same degree hyper-divorcing, anti-marriage evangelicals do.

[edit on 11-12-2004 by RANT]

The ATSNN story can be found here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

From a statistical standpoint I have no doubt if same sex marrige was leagal in all states, the rates would mirror those of hetro's. There is no reason to expect homosexulas to be any bettter or any worse than everybody else at the marriage game.

Massachusetts is such a great state. It is my second favorite state (after California).

It's not by intent that my favorite three states happen to have been Kerry states (California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania).

Originally posted by FredT
The ATSNN story can be found here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

From a statistical standpoint I have no doubt if same sex marrige was leagal in all states, the rates would mirror those of hetro's. There is no reason to expect homosexulas to be any bettter or any worse than everybody else at the marriage game.

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Nox]

OMG..ya mean they are just like everyone else :::::::gasp:::::::

Crikey that'll stump the lawyers, which party gets the house n car??

[edit on 11-12-2004 by instar]

Boy if I was gay, I would be kicking their a**es for doing a disservice to the right they finally won. This is analogous to women of the suffrage movement getting their rights and then not voting.

Originally posted by LadyV
OMG..ya mean they are just like everyone else :::::::gasp:::::::

I agree...oh..the shock of it all....

Eventually, someone in a gay marriage is going to kill their spouse. Even though heterosexuals have been doing this since marriage has been invented, will this be used as evidence that a "gay lifestyle does not adapt well to the rigors of marriage"?

No, it just proves people are people, we're all the same. No matter what race, religion, gender, political party, or sexual orientation, no matter how many people want us divided and fighting amongst each other, we are all humans sharing the third rock from the sun. We all deserve to be treated humanely, fairly, equally.

I just want to address a couple points in your post, both contained in this article that you cite:

But don't take the US government's word for it. Take a look at the findings from the George Barna Research Group. George Barna, a born-again Christian whose company is in Ventura, Calif., found that Massachusetts does indeed have the lowest divorce rate among all 50 states. More disturbing was the finding that born-again Christians have among the highest divorce rates.

One reason that Massachusetts has a low divorce rate is that many marriages stay together simply because of the financial angle. It is very expensive for the breadwinner to get divorced in Massachusetts.

Second, the fact that born-agains have a high divorce rate is not surprising at all. Most often, it is only one of the pair that is born-again, and the friction between that person and the "sinful" spouse that decides not to be reborn is a deal-breaker.

Similar trends exist between the rising Hollywood actor/actress and the highschool sweetheart spouse that they married at age eighteen.

Originally posted by jsobecky
I just want to address a couple points in your post, both contained in this article that you cite:

But don't take the US government's word for it. Take a look at the findings from the George Barna Research Group. George Barna, a born-again Christian whose company is in Ventura, Calif., found that Massachusetts does indeed have the lowest divorce rate among all 50 states. More disturbing was the finding that born-again Christians have among the highest divorce rates.

One reason that Massachusetts has a low divorce rate is that many marriages stay together simply because of the financial angle. It is very expensive for the breadwinner to get divorced in Massachusetts.

Second, the fact that born-agains have a high divorce rate is not surprising at all. Most often, it is only one of the pair that is born-again, and the friction between that person and the "sinful" spouse that decides not to be reborn is a deal-breaker.

Similar trends exist between the rising Hollywood actor/actress and the highschool sweetheart spouse that they married at age eighteen.

No No the reason people dont get divoreced in massechusets is because instead of complainin about how he never talks or she never puts out they complain about the Red Sox, UH OH I guess the divorce rate is gonna sky rocket now.

This just in: The heterosexuals next door are getting a divorce. It's spreading!!!!

Originally posted by jsobecky
does this imply that the gay lifestyle does not adapt well to the rigors of marriage?

Yeah it looks like gays just don't get it. See, 51% or so of marriages end in divorce these days, but these whacky gays are for the most part staying married. Maybe thy can stop their perverted sickness and get on with having a majority of their marriages end in divorce, like the goodly people in america do.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Yeah it looks like gays just don't get it. See, 51% or so of marriages end in divorce these days, but these whacky gays are for the most part staying married. Maybe thy can stop their perverted sickness and get on with having a majority of their marriages end in divorce, like the goodly people in america do.

Yeah! Why should they be happy?

from Croat56
No No the reason people dont get divoreced in massechusets is because instead of complainin about how he never talks or she never puts out they complain about the Red Sox, UH OH I guess the divorce rate is gonna sky rocket now.

Not to worry. We still have the Celts and Da Broons to complain about.

This is rediculous, just wanted all of you to know. No one gay marriage will ever last and end in blissful happiness. B/c GOD said it wasn't right in the bible. Did you know that there were some guys that started using thier freedom of speech in Pensylvania and they got arrested. What is up with that? Just wondering where this country is headed. If you have any beliefs left you better stand up for them before they get taken away, too.

Y'all are forgetting the most important thing in all of this... The cats!!! Is the religious educator going to pay his ex, the professor the cat support??? I smell another court case coming...

What cracks me up is the jokers supporting gay marriage saying how straights don't honor marriage anyway with the divorce rate where it is.

Let's face it, these gays want marriage only to have a stamp of approval on their homosexuality. Not for fidelity.

[edit on 1/8/2005 by Amethyst]

What?!? These "gays" wasn't happy? WTF?!?

Why are they calling themselves "gay" if they're not happy? After all, that's the reason they stole the word gay and forever ruined it's real meaning!

Gay marriages and gay divorces!